Great moments in Scottish engineering history: James Watt tries to work out how his phone attaches to his selfie stick.
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New-Cleckit Dominie
@ncdominie@mastodon.scot
mastodon 4.7.2University maths teacher; very amateur local history; slightly worse photography. Uaireannan beagan Gàidhlig cuideachd. Same handle on the cerulean site.
641 Followers
54 Following
45 Posts
Joined November 04, 2022
Website:
This is just to say
I have OCRed
the text
thet was in
tne arch:ve
and whicb
yov were prabaldy
seamhing
for "breahtast"
Fargme ms
fheg mem debo:w5
sb ?mccf
mmb 5c oc1b
The Heron of Disapproval would like a word with you.
An origami nudibranch looks itself up in the nudibranch book.
(Origami by Neil Banas and others, from an exhibition at the Transmission Gallery, Glasgow.)
They: Hi! Through our unhallowed ransacking of the world's knowledge, your computer can now talk to the dead.
Me: Can it talk to my printer yet?
They: haha no
Just had my luckiest urban wildlife moment ever. Went to one of my favourite wee lookout points and there was a kingfisher perching there; the kingfisher flew away and within a minute an otter showed up.
These are lousy photos and I do not care.
Under the M8.
A jackdaw in Whithorn demonstrating the ancient rural art of opening an Ordnance Survey map in the wind.
A heron on the tidal weir.
This 23 April, why not try being kind to your dragon and feeding it treats instead of sticking nasty sharp things into it?
* Dragons endorse this message.
[Bibliothèque du Château de Chantilly, Ms 139, f. 14v].
i is COOTLET and i has FOOTLET
One day in the lab, we accidentally opened an information wormhole to the year 2017.
It takes the power of a small city to maintain, but it's worth it for the benefits to science.
(We use it exclusively to get reliable Google search results.)
The tiny, exquisite rock-crystal jar from the Galloway Hoard.
It's currently on display in Kirkcudbright, not far from where it was found, which should be useful if Bishop Hyguald turns up asking where his bling thing's got to.
George was starting to regret his decision to buy the cheaper brand of dragon treats.
Who wants a longish read about the colliery waggonways of Southside, illustrated with far too many maps?
Nobody? Bah. You shall have one anyway.
If British Transport Police are so good at sorting things, why isn't their number 01166?
Gate of shadows.
Further glimpses of life in this notorious urban hellhole.
#FensterFreitag (sort of).
"... Yes, mammal? Was there something you wanted to say?"
The trouble with Bluesky going down is that I'm no longer sure what random American people think about things they don't understand.
Replying to
Looking at the description of the raid, I wonder whether it's a deliberate attempt to intimidate the Quakers into refusing to give house room to protestors.
If that's the idea, I don't think they've met many Quakers.
Because I am (a) a bad person and (b) reading a long and painfully meticulous PhD thesis, my brain has been generating a TV series in which Che Guevara breaks into British supermarkets and daubs revolutionary artwork on the walls using a paste of olive oil, parmesan and crushed pine nuts.
"Ernesto's Tesco Pesto Frescos".
You're welcome.
Remember: your local library doesn't just contain books! You can also find comics, IT facilities, and hippopotamus skulls.
*runs in panting* More like Loser Orbán amirite?
New signage opposite the Ramshorn Kirkyard.
Thoughts:
• The poster for "Everybody to Kenmure Street" lists "The people of Glasgow" and Emma Thompson as stars.
• Emma Thompson has a Bacon number of 2.
• It follows that the people of Glasgow have a Bacon number of 3.
• My Erdős–Bacon number is therefore 7.
I will not be taking questions.
Sheltering.
"Can you see the castle? I thought there was a castle here."
— fellow tourist, scanning Stranraer from the roof of the Castle
One for Southside nerds: I've spent a pleasant couple of hours marking out the routes of Dixon's colliery waggonways.
Red (starting west of Windmillcroft Quay): the waggonway on McArthur's map (1778), with my guesswork as a dashed line.
Blue (all other branches): the waggonway system c. 1830, just before the Polloc & Govan Railway.
Base map: OS 25-inch (parishes), 1858, showing the fully developed railway system and the Paisley Canal.
More updates when/if I figure out what was going on...
Kibble Palace.
So, May 4th. I misunderstood the occasion, I admit it.
In my defence it was a very easy typo to make, and I still think a party to which everyone came dressed as a different False Dmitri would have been fun.
I have a dig t:sed archivc johe, but don't bother trying to search for it.
If anyone challenges you about your World Book Day costume, tell them you're Borges' Book of Sand.
*pause*
"Look, don't get me started."
Replying to
@peterbrown@mastodon.scot I'm pretty sure that's the serious explanation. Unfortunately it didn't stop my brain from generating silliness, which is why I shouldn't be allowed near primary sources.
New blogpost. This one is my attempt to solve the mystery of the Kelvin hippo skull. (I do not quite succeed.)
Replying to
@hikazekero@mastodon.social There is some quite nice texture on the steel behind the heron — one of the things I liked about the scene!
@Peternimmo@mastodon.scot OTOH that is perfect social media material (even speaking as an incorrigible Dog Person).
Replying to
@willhopkins@a2mi.social I guess these people have taught themselves a version of history in which the likes of Benjamin Lay or Levi Coffin don't exist. That's not going to be the smart move they think it is.